We need snow. And yes, the previous sentence is the most obvious thing you'll read today.

Now, it's not unusual for our part of the world to have little snow at the beginning of a ski season. Long-timers remember that in Vail's inaugural season, 1962, there was so little snow that people were able to use their cars to haul supplies up to Mid-Vail.

It's also not terribly unusual to be eyeball-deep in the white stuff by now. Just two years ago, Vail had virtually all of its skiable terrain open at this point.

In short, it's a true roll of the dice whether or not we have snow this time of year. The good news is that both Vail and Beaver Creek are able to make snow in pretty impressive quantities — temperatures permitting. That means there's at least a decent amount of terrain for skiing or snowboarding.

While this part of the Rockies is in a long-term drought cycle, it's likely that snow will fall at some point.

In in the meantime, we'll just have to fall back on whatever snow-bringing good luck charms we can find.

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In that first winter, the fledgling ski company hired a group of Native Americans from the Ute tribe led by Eddie Box. They didn't have a snow dance, as such, so they did a rain dance instead. Snow came a couple of days later.

It may be time to once again ask for the Utes' help.

The rest of us, depending on our beliefs, often resort to prayer or more earthly pursuits such as washing our cars. This newspaper on Tuesday, Dec. 12, published a story about our persistently dry weather, with few immediate prospects of precipitation. That's been known to work, too.

But we may need to start thinking out of the box where snowfall is concerned. This could cause an international incident, but USA Today reported on Monday, Dec. 11, that North Korea's press agency claims that country's leader, Kim Jong Un, may be able to influence the weather.

Hey, it's worth a try. But bringing North Korea's dictator to Vail would require a few things from us, and a few things from him.

We can probably find first-class lodging for the Hermit Kingdom's supreme leader. In return, Kim would have to agree to not nuke our nation, or execute anyone who laughs if he falls. He's been known to take that extreme step for officials who fall asleep in meetings.